“Where’s Agent Doggett?” he asks.

“We thought it might be better if I spoke to you instead.”  She sits across from him.  She doesn't carry a notepad or a file with her.  She looks like she's here for tea and conversation, not an interrogation.  “I've been assigned to the task force to find the missing fourteen.”

“Good luck.”

“I’m sorry about your partner.”

He wants to answer her politeness with sarcasm, but he hears Skinner in the back of his head telling him to play nice if he wants any hope of being allowed in on the investigation.  The sooner they could clear him of any wrongdoing or negligence, the sooner he could do something substantive.

“I appreciate that,” he says.  “Sorry won't help me find her though.”

“What will?”

“What's your specialty, Agent Reyes?  What do you know about alien abduction?”

“Not much.  I work in the ritualistic crime division in New Orleans.”

Mulder pauses and thinks for a moment.  “Monica Reyes?”

“Yes.”

“You worked the Lafontaine murders last year.”

“I did.”

“I wanted that case.  Submitted a requisition for it, but got denied.  Kersh had us working shit detail at that time.”

“Why would you have wanted that case?  It was horrible.”

“It bore a striking similarity to a mass murder in 1979.”

It's Reyes’ turn to pause and she tilts her head slightly.  “Were you my anonymous tip with the news article from The Times-Picayune?”

“Anonymous tips are meant to be anonymous for a reason.  I read your report.  You didn't find a connection.”

“No, I didn't.”

“I didn't kill my partner.  So ask me what you think you need to know so I can get out of here.”

“You and Agent Scully were close?”

“Yes, we are close.”

“Right.”

“To pick up where Agent Doggett left off, yes, we’re more than just partners, though that's been a more recent development in our relationship.”

“How recent?”

“About four months recent.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you decide to become intimate with your partner?”

“It wasn't so much of a decision as...it just happened.”  

Mulder sits back and closes his eyes.  He thinks about the first night they spent together, when he put his arm around her as they watched a movie, when she looked up at him with surprise, but smiled.  When he’d let his thumb graze her arm past her short sleeved top.  When she’d shifted closer and cautiously rested her hand on his thigh.  When she'd looked at his mouth and he had to know what it would be like to kiss her.  No, it hadn’t been a decision, it had been a compulsion.

“I'm sorry if this is uncomfortable or embarrassing for you.”

“If?”  Mulder gives a little snort.  “People have talked about me behind my back for years.  I'm not worried about what anyone says or thinks about me, it's what they might say about Scully that bothers me.”

“I'm told she's a good agent.”

“The best.”  A headache that Mulder has been fighting starts to pulse behind his eyes and he pinches the top of his nose before rubbing his brows.  “I have medical records I'm supposed to give you.  Of our attempts to have a baby, and her infertility.  I didn't know she was pregnant until yesterday.  I'm not even quite sure I believe it, but I would never, ever hurt her.”

“If you were trying to have a baby, why didn't she tell you she was pregnant before you went to Bellefleur?”

“I can only imagine it was because she knew I wouldn't let her come.”

“Wouldn't let her?”

Mulder puts his hand down and looks Agent Reyes in the eyes.  She looks at him neutrally, but he has the feeling she thinks she's caught him in an admission of guilt.   He tried not to clench his jaw, but it's hard not to.

“I had a bad feeling about coming back,” he says.  “I tried to talk her out of going, but she insisted.  If she had told me about the baby, I would’ve tried a lot harder.”

“What would you have done?”

“Not come at all, probably.”

“You would stay behind and not chase a lead?”

“For her I would.”

“That's not what I've heard about you.”

Mulder swallows.  The even tone in Reyes’ voice is unsettling.  She has a way of stating things without malice or surprise, but the judgment is still there in what she says.  He was wrong about her being too relaxed.  Perhaps she's even more calculating than Agent Doggett.

“Let’s just say I haven’t felt the need to go haring off on my own lately.”

“But, she has, hasn’t she?  Wasn’t it just a few months ago that she followed the lead in an investigation without telling you where she was going or that she was with a man you’ve described as an enemy of the government.”

“Jesus, how did you even-”

“And you said you’ve only been together intimately for four months.  Was she running out on you then, or was this before you were together?  Did she run off on you now?”

Mulder can’t take it anymore.  He stands up and slaps both hands down on the table, but Agent Reyes doesn’t flinch.  “This is insane,” he shouts.

“No, fourteen people vanishing without a trace is insane, Agent Mulder.”

“Not if you’ve seen what I’ve seen.”

“According to you, you didn’t see anything more than a bright light in the sky.”

Mulder scrubs his face with both hands, frustrated and tense.  He pushes his hands back through his hair and tightens his grip as he turns away from Agent Reyes and paces the room.

“I’m here to help you, Agent Mulder,” Agent Reyes says.

“Help me?”  Mulder turns towards her and shakes his head.  “You can’t help me if you don’t believe me.”

“I never said I didn’t believe you.”

The door opens and Agent Doggett enters, followed by Skinner.  Agent Reyes stands and pushes her chair back into place under the table.

“You’re gonna accompany the task force to Arizona,” Doggett says.

Mulder cuts his eyes to Skinner, whose face reveals nothing.  “What’s in Arizona?” he asks.

“Boy by the name of Gibson Praise,” Agent Doggett answers.

“What do you want with Gibson?”

“I don’t know,” Doggett says, holding a red file up in his hand.  “But, someone wants us to find him.”

*****

The sun is still high when the caravan of black SUVs stops in front of the tiny desert boarding school for the deaf.  The air is hot and thick with the dust the cars have kicked up.  Mulder wipes a gritty sheen of sweat off the back of his neck.  He hasn’t had a chance to be alone with Skinner, to find out what this is about.  He still hasn’t heard back from the gunmen.  He’s flying blind in this situation and he feels like he needs to proceed with the utmost caution.

Agent Doggett is on one side of Mulder, Agent Reyes the other, like a police escort.  Mulder thinks they may as well just put him in handcuffs.  He feels like they’d like to.  There are at least ten other agents in the task force behind them, buzzing with adrenaline and excitement, like invading a school for deaf kids is going to be the high point of their careers.  He wonders if any of them has ever been out of the bullpen.  It wouldn’t surprise them if they hadn’t.  Kersh likes to keep his agents on a tight leash.

“I thought we were only here to talk to him,” Mulder says to Doggett, glancing back over his shoulder at the team behind them.

“They’re not here for the boy,” Doggett answers, eyes forward.  His face glistens in the heat.

Mulder takes another look back.  It becomes clear to him then.  They’re there to make sure he doesn’t get away.  He searches for Skinner amongst them, and then sees his boss standing alone and apart from the group, his cell phone pressed to one ear and a hand over the other.  It looks like he’s shouting something, but there’s a strong desert wind blowing that carries his voice away.

“Wait,” Mulder says, stopping and turning fully to watch Skinner.  “Something’s wrong.”

“What is it?” Agent Reyes asks.

Mulder takes a step away from the two agents and squints out at the desert.  There’s a glimmer of something in the distance, but he’s distracted when Skinner pockets his phone and starts briskly for them, his face red and wet, tie billowing over his shoulder in the wind.

“Someone breached the FBI database overnight using Agent Scully’s credentials,” Skinner says.

“What were they looking for?” Mulder asks.

“Files on Gibson Praise.”

Mulder turns to go back to the school, but Skinner stops him.  “There’s something else,” he says.

“What?”

“I heard from your...friends…”  Skinner pauses and glances at Agent Doggett and then back at Mulder.  “They say they’re getting reports of activity in Clifton.”

“Clifton?  How far is that from where we are?”

“Thirty miles, maybe.”

“We need to find Gibson.  Now.”

With Agents Doggett and Reyes hot on his heels, Mulder rushes towards the entrance of the school and throws open the door.  There’s a receptionist at the front desk that looks up with puzzlement, but it’s clear she can’t hear the commotion that follows him.  He starts yelling Gibson’s name, trusting that at least Doggett or Reyes has flashed a badge by now to someone, and searches the school room by room.

“He’s not here,” Mulder says to the agents that trail after him.  “He knew what was coming.”

“Where could he go?” Agent Reyes asks.

Mulder shakes his head and pushes open the back exit.  He squints out at the desert again and then looks down at the ground.  There are footprints in the dirt, two sets of shoes, tennis shoes and what looks like high-heeled boots.  The imprints are clean at first, even steps out towards the open desert, but they soon grow messier and more chaotic.  Mulder follows the tracks, slowly at first, and then picking up speed.

“Agent Mulder!”  Agent Doggett calls after him.

Mulder doesn’t stop.  He runs alongside the fading footprints and doesn’t have to look back to know Agent Doggett is behind him.  Through the desert brush and tumbleweeds, he spots something in the distance, taking shape the closer he gets.  He sees what looks like Scully, dragging a stumbling Gibson Praise behind her, marching defiantly towards the edge of a cliff.  Agent Doggett must see what he sees at the same time, because he calls her name.

“Agent Scully!”

Scully doesn’t slow or stop or acknowledge Agent Doggett’s call to her.  Gibson is resisting her pull as best he can, but she’s relentless in her hold.  Mulder stops in his tracks about twenty feet away and puts an arm out to stop Agent Doggett as well.  He didn’t notice Agent Reyes behind them, who skids to a stop on the other side of Mulder.

“Agent Scully, stop right there!”  Agent Doggett shouts.

Scully finally pauses and looks towards them.  There’s something cold and dead in her eyes.  She’s unmoved by the boy struggling in her grip and her hold on him is effortless.  She blinks slowly as though she’s studying the three agents.  Mulder can hear Gibson wheezing, trying to say something.

“Sssnoter,” Gibson croaks, staring at Mulder with wide, fearful eyes.

“Sssnoter,” Mulder murmurs to himself, repeating it and forming the shape of the words with his mouth.  “Sssnoter.  Snot ter.  Snot her.  It’s not her!  It’s not her!”

Instinctually, Mulder moves his hand to his hip to reach for his weapon, only remembering that his gun was taken from him by Skinner before they left Oregon.  Agent Doggett, following Mulder’s lead, draws his weapon and Agent Reyes follows.

“Let him go!” Mulder yells.

“Hands in the air,” Agent Doggett orders.

The Scully imposter still looks unmoved, but she releases Gibson, who falls to his knees and starts to crawl away.  Agent Reyes breaks away from Mulder and Agent Doggett, her gun still pointed at Scully, and steps to the side to where Gibson is crawling.

“I’m not gonna ask you again, put your hands in the air!”  Agent Doggett takes aim, ready to fire.

“Don’t shoot unless you can hit the base of the neck,” Mulder says to him.

“What?”

Agent Reyes has knelt to pull Gibson out of harm’s way and Mulder moves behind Agent Doggett as he stalks forward.  The Scully imposter cocks her head to the side and then almost with a shrug, turns and steps off the edge of the cliff.

“No!”  Mulder screams, knowing full well it isn’t Scully who’s just fallen, but it looks like her, and he knows it’s an image he’ll never be able to shake.  He stands rooted to his spot while Agent Doggett runs to the drop site and peers over the edge.

There’s the sound of activity surrounding him, of Skinner rushing past to join Agent Doggett, of members of the task force trying to help Agent Reyes with Gibson, of Agent Doggett shouting orders to people, but it all blends into a cacophony.  It’s Skinner that breaks the spell by pulling Mulder to the side and asking him what happened.

“It was a bounty hunter,” Mulder says.  “They’re after Gibson.”

“Why?” Skinner asks.

“I don’t know.  He needs protection.”

“He needs a hospital.  They think his leg might be broken.”

“Someone’s got to stay with him.”

“Are you asking me?”

“You’re the only one with any idea of what we’re dealing with here.”  Mulder looks towards Agent Doggett, who’s organizing a team to head down into the canyon and retrieve the body of the Scully imposter.  “I don’t trust anyone else at the moment.”

“What will you do?”

“Keep searching.”

Skinner looks away, contemplative.  He finally nods once, but doesn’t say anything to Mulder before he walks away.  Mulder watches as he lifts Gibson into his arms and orders another agent to get to one of the SUVs to go to the hospital.  No one but Agent Reyes notices when Mulder heads further out into the desert.

*****

Mulder has been walking for over an hour.  He’s been feeling lethargic for awhile, his throat is dry and he has a headache.  He hears Scully in his head, can’t even leave you for a day, Mulder, and you’ve gotten yourself dehydrated.  He stops and hunches over, his hands on his knees.  The sun has gotten low and the air has cooled somewhat, but he’s still hot all over.  Dirty sweat has dried on his skin, making him itch.

Even in the middle of the desert, he has the feeling of being watched.  Several times, he’s paused to search all sides of the vast landscape, but it’s hard to see through the brush and cactus.  He’s completely alone save for the few lizards he’s passed, a low-flying vulture, and a scorpion he nearly stepped on from not being attentive enough.  It only now starts to occur to him that he could die out here and no one would know.  He wonders if there’s anyone left to care at this point.

He hears a noise he can’t identify close by and he goes still, immediately fearing a snake of some kind.  When he finally dares to glance over, he’s more relieved than he cares to let on seeing Agent Reyes approaching.  He straightens and sways a little on his feet.

“Have you been following me?” Mulder asks.  He notices a canteen at Agent Reyes’ hip and unconsciously lips his chapped lips.

“Water?” she asks.

“Please.”

Agent Reyes pulls the strap holding the canteen over her head and hands it to Mulder.  His grip is almost too weak to unscrew the cap and he fights the urge to gulp at the water.  Slowly, Scully’s voice reminds him.  Small sips, Mulder.

“I grew up in New Mexico,” she says.  “Most parents probably tell their kids never to talk to strangers.  Mine told me never to go into the desert alone.”

He coughs on a sip of water and screws the cap back on the canteen before he hands it back to her.  “Yeah, well…”

“What exactly are we looking for?”

“Aircraft.  A force field.”  He shrugs.  “You don’t really find it, it finds you.”

“What happened back there on the cliff?”

“That wasn’t Scully.”

“Then who was it?”

“Not who.  It.”

“It looked like Agent Scully.”

“It can look like whoever it wants.”  

Mulder turns away from Agent Reyes and looks out into the grey nothingness.  There’s an orange glow behind the mountains in the distance.  It will be pitch black soon.  He wasn’t thinking earlier.

“Agent Mulder?”  Agent Reyes asks.  “If that wasn’t Agent Scully, who was it?”

“An alien.”

“How did you know?”

Mulder hesitates.  He isn’t sure of how much he should tell Agent Reyes.  He doesn’t know that he can trust her, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a point in being discreet now.  Keeping quiet certainly won’t bring Scully back.

“Gibson Praise is part alien,” he says.  “At least, that’s what I think.  He knows what they’re thinking.  He knows what all of us are thinking, actually.  We should head back.  It’s getting dark.”

Agent Reyes cups her hand at Mulder’s elbow when he walks one way and pulls him in a slightly different direction without comment.  He follows her, sensing that her confidence comes from experience.  When it starts to get darker, she pulls a flashlight out from her pocket and points it at the ground in front of their feet.  After some time of silence, she speaks.

“I first met Agent Doggett about eight years ago,” she says.  He was NYPD at the time.  Did you know that?”

“I don't know anything about Agent Doggett,” he answers.

“He was a suspect at one point for the murder of his son.”

“That's...that's awful.”

“Yes.  Luke was seven.  Agent Doggett was cleared very early on.  I was in the New York City field office at the time and I was on the investigation.”

“What happened?”

“Stranger abduction, we think.  Never made an arrest.”

Mulder quietly contemplates this bit of information.  He wonders what Agent Doggett was like as a cop.  He wonders if that incident in his life propelled him into joining the FBI.  If Agent Doggett was also there for a personal cause.

“I only tell you this so that you'll know that Agent Doggett is on your side,” she says.  “He’s been in your shoes.”

“Scully isn’t dead.”

“It’s about loss, Agent Mulder.  He knows what it’s like.  And I think he must have felt a particular way about this case to call me in on it.  He doesn’t keep in touch.  I’m sure I remind him of Luke, and why we met.  He will call though, if he needs the help.  He’s here to help.”

“Like I told you before, you can’t help me if you don’t believe me.”

“And like I told you, I never said I didn’t.”

“Wait,” Mulder whispers, putting his arm out and catching Agent Reyes’ wrist to stop her.  “Do you see that?”

In the sky up ahead is a light, slowly moving closer, growing larger.  He thought at first it might be a shooting star, but it’s not falling across the sky, it’s heading towards them.

“I see it,” Agent Reyes says.  “What is it?”

“I’m not sure.”  

Mulder steps ahead and holds his arm up over his head to block the light from his eyes.  His heart pounds with hopeful anticipation, but it soon becomes apparent what’s approaching them is a helicopter.  He deflates a little and drops his arm as he turns to Agent Reyes.  There’s a look of deep sympathy in her eyes when he looks at her.

The helicopter descends and Agent Doggett hops out, beckoning to the two of them.  Agent Reyes comes forward and pauses next to Mulder.  She doesn’t say anything, let’s him make the decision to cooperate and follow her, which he does.  She gets into the helicopter and he pulls himself inside as well, Agent Doggett behind them both.

“We didn’t recover a body from the bottom of the canyon,” Agent Doggett shouts over the noise of the helicopter.  “And we haven’t been able to reach AD Skinner.”

“When was the last time you spoke to him?” Mulder asks.

“As he was putting the boy in the SUV.  I’ve got men searching the hospital now, but they can’t find him.”

“Can we land there?”

“Guess we’ll find out.”

*****

The hospital seems to be even smaller than the school, and equally as quiet.  The only staff is a doctor and a night nurse and a janitor.  One of the task force agents meets the helicopter as it lands on the highway and drives them across the main road to the building.  Agent Shaffer, who drove Skinner and Gibson to the hospital, is posted outside of Gibson’s room on watch.

“Sir,” Agent Shaffer says to Agent Doggett as the trio approaches Gibson’s room.

“You were the last to see AD Skinner?”  Agent Doggett asks him.

“I entered the hospital with AD Skinner and the boy,” he confirms.  “AD Skinner hasn’t been seen since leaving this room to take a phone call approximately half an hour ago.”

“Any idea who that phone call was from?”  Agent Doggett asks.

“No, Sir.”

“He wouldn’t leave,” Mulder says.  “He’s still here.”

“So, we’ll do another search,” Agent Reyes says.

“I want to talk to Gibson,” Mulder says.

Agent Doggett seems to mull the request over, his piercing blue eyes staring hard at Mulder.  He finally nods once and turns to Agent Shaffer.  “No one enters or leaves this room,” he says, glancing at Mulder.  “You got that?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Monica, you’ll search with me.”

Mulder slips into Gibson’s room and watches through the small window beside the door as Agents Doggett and Reyes head down the hall.  Agent Shaffer blocks the door with his body and assumes a crossed-arm pose.  Mulder rolls his eyes a little as he turns around.  Gibson is lying in a hospital bed that makes him look even smaller than he is, his leg propped up in a fresh white cast, eyes closed.

“Gibson?” Mulder says, moving closer to the hospital bed.  He can tell the boy isn’t sleeping, but feigning.

Gibson opens his eyes.  “I don’t know where Agent Scully is,” he says.

“I wasn’t...nevermind, you’d know I’m lying.”

“I know they have her.  But, I don’t know where.”

“Do you know if she’s close?”

“I’m sorry Agent Mulder, I can’t tell you anything.”

“Can you tell me what they want with you?”

“They want what anyone wants, to study me, keep me like a lab rat, cut me open, kill me if they have to.”

“Gibson, no one wants...you’re not a lab rat.”

“Sure.  The only reason you’re in here is because she’s gone.”

“Yes, I want to find Agent Scully, but I want to protect you too, Gibson.”

“You know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“I’m certifiable, Gibson.”

Gibson snorts, but it isn’t with humor, it’s with derision.  He shakes his head a little and looks away.  Mulder pulls a plastic chair over to the side of the bed and sits down.  He’s starting to feel the effects of the lack of sleep, food, and water on his body.  He still has the headache that started in the desert and now his bloodshot eyes are starting to feel dry and irritated.

Suddenly, Gibson turns his head again, sharply, like he was startled by a noise.  He sits up and Mulder straightens, turning his head in the direction Gibson is staring.  The boy is listening to something, Mulder’s sure of it.

“What is it?” Mulder asks.

“It’s coming,” Gibson answers.

Mulder looks around the room for a place to hide.  The window is too small to climb out of.  The cupboards next to the bed are too narrow.  It’s too late anyway, the door opens and Skinner walks in.  Behind him, Mulder sees Agent Shaffer, slumped on the floor.  He pulls Gibson from the bed and stands in front of him, backing up slowly as Gibson hobbles behind him on his cast.

“Agent Doggett!”  Mulder yells.  “Agent Reyes!”

The thing that’s posing as Skinner moves slowly, but purposefully towards Mulder.  Mulder stands his ground and blocks the thing from reaching Gibson.  The imposter reaches out and grabs Mulder by the throat.  Mulder scratches ineffectually at the hand choking him.

“Stop,” Mulder wheezes, just before he’s lifted into the air by his neck and tossed to the side.  He hits his head and his shoulder.  There’s an explosion of pain throughout his entire body.  He manages to stand, though his knees are shaking and he’s seeing double.

“What the hell is this?” Agent Doggett shouts, rushing into the room with his gun drawn.  “Get away from the boy!”

“Base of the neck,” Mulder croaks, losing his balance and stumbling against the cupboards.  

It’s Agent Reyes that fires, her aim remarkably accurate.  The bullet hole oozes a sizzling green sludge.  The body falls and moments later, begins to liquify.  Agent Doggett stands perplexed, a look of shock and horror on his face.  Gibson is huddled against the wall, inching away to escape the toxic blood that pools closer to his feet.

“John, the boy,” Agent Reyes says.

Doggett holsters his weapon and rushes over to Gibson, stepping over the liquid corpse to escort the boy to a safer place.  Agent Reyes goes to Mulder, who has lost the ability to stand and has slumped against the side of the bed.

“It can look like whoever it wants to,” she says.  “Isn’t that what you said?”

Mulder nods and his throat tightens with a surge of nausea.  

“We just found AD Skinner in a storage closet,” she continues.  “He was unconscious, but alive.”

Mulder coughs and retches bile.

“We need a medic in here!” she shouts.

Mulder loses consciousness.